Summer Crash (Zerralon 1.1) – Part 11: Manual Control

Ten-year-old Kevin Taggert prefers to stay home with his video games, but his parents insist he join a summer sports program. Exactly on the day the Vordac raid Earth. With his little sister depending on him for protection, Kevin must find the strength and wisdom to keep them both safe.

Before they both end up dead, or even worse: as life-long slaves of the Vordac.

Summer Crash (Zerralon 1.1)

Part 11: Manual Control

He didn’t need her to tell him. Kevin tripped on his way to the driver’s seat behind the main console. Even before settling himself he jerked the throttle lever backwards.

The hovercar shot backwards. The momentum caused him to hit the front dash and then bounce off the front passenger seat. Christy squealed as the sudden move knocked her off her seat to bounce off the floor and the interior of the hovercar.

A hard metallic thud sounded on the roof. A dark shadow flew over the front of the hovercar. The vehicle slid to a stop, once again in the parking lot. Kevin cringed, waiting for one of the windows to be blown out.

Kevin pushed up from the floor, his arm slipping off the top of the console. His forearm caught the left joystick, pulling it backwards, even as his hip bumped the right throttle lever. The hovercar angled into the air with the nose high, rising above the trees.

“We’re flying!” Christy shouted as she clutched the back of a seat to keep from falling into the back of the hovercar.

“Get into a seat,” Kevin shouted back even as he struggled to get into his.

The hovercar flattened, allowing him to finally get into the seat and put the seatbelt on to prevent himself from falling out again. Or to keep him in place in case a robot managed to bust out a window or open a door to get inside. Give him time to fight off the arms trying to pull him out.

He shivered at the thought. No time for waking nightmares. He had a big problem in the here-and-now. High in the air, and still no idea what to do. Enough other robots in the air give him a fresh round of panic. He fumbled to get the seatbelt to come together properly, stopping when something bulky rose out of the trees filling the park.

Black and dark-blue, with weapons pointing out from its heavy shoulder armor and a cannon held in one hand, it swiped in the air with the other. The dark shape of a raiding robot flew back into the air, tumbling end over end towards the Vordac mothership.

Such a big thing. Horrible to watch move and change shape, and yet he couldn’t look away. So many muscles. Armored, with weapons sticking out everywhere. The shape rippled as it collapsed down into the trees. The arm folded against the body with the cannon aimed straight ahead.

The Morde did not disappear into the trees this time. It ducked down, and then rose above them, the basic shape changed. Stumpy legs and arms folded against the body, creating the shape of a rounded hovering tank. One with weapons all over it.

Kevin grasped the controls of the hovercar as the Morde slowly turned in a circle, as if surveying the area. He didn’t want to be there when it circled towards them.

He pushed the throttle lever forward only a small bit. The hovercar moved forward, as he hoped, but in the wrong direction.

“Why are you flying towards it?” Christy demanded. She appeared next to him, hugging at the back of the front passenger seat with both arms.

“I told you to get in a seat!”

“I’m trying!”

Kevin let go of the throttle lever. It moved back to a neutral position and the hovercar started to slow. A twitch of the left joystick sent the hovercar veering to the right.

Towards the city. Also not where he wanted to go, but at least it wasn’t in the direction of the Morde. Small comfort. Way too many things to hit in that sea of buildings and structures.

Christy climbed into the seat and grabbed for the seatbelt. “We need to get to Mom.”

“No, we need to get out of here. Mom will find us after this is all over.” Kevin ignored Christy’s sudden protests. It was up to him to get them to safety, and he had bad news about the possibility. Something he didn’t want to admit to Christy.

He had no idea how to fly this thing, and they were now heading straight for a high-rise building.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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